After UK esports organisation Endpoint won the Fall Europe Regional Event 1 yesterday, Esports News UK editor Dom Sacco looks at the victory and how UK players and orgs have found a successful home in Rocket League.
Endpoint beat favourites Team BDS in an exciting 14-game RLCS European Open grand final yesterday, winning 4-3 twice and taking home $30,000.
It’s an achievement that is especially notable given the hype, likes and numbers around Rocket League esports right now.
The Rocket League Twitch channel generated more than 3m overall views and 100,000 peak viewers over the past few days, not to mention the other language streams broadcasting the event.
We still have two more European regional events to go before the Major in Sweden this December – something that Endpoint CEO Adam Jessop has his sights set on.
“The level of competition in Rocket League right now is so high, which is really driven by Psyonix’s decision to make it an open circuit,” he told me.
“The fact that last year’s European champions Vitality are currently in last place in the current RLCS standings is a testament to this, with teams such as Liquid, Singularity, Solary and FC Barcelona not making the leaderboard at all. All of this makes the regional win even more special for us, we stand at the top of that leaderboard with our sights set firmly on the major and the LAN in Sweden later this year.
“It’s great that the UK is well represented within Rocket league with no less than four UK-based organisations in the top 16 rankings, and a large number of British players in large international organisations such as Misfits, Dignitas, SK Gaming and 00Nation. It’s a been an amazing start to the season for us at Endpoint and we will be working even harder to try and stay ahead of the highly competitive pack.”
In the European Open, Guild finished 12th-14th and SMPR and Williams Resolve reached the quarter finals, narrowly losing 4-3 in their games (to Dignitas and Karmine Corp respectively), also representing the UK well.
Jeff Simpkins, operations director at Resolve, said: “The team have been massively impressive and they are far from hitting their ceiling yet. They’re a young team, they have a lot to learn still but they have a very experienced player turned coach in Rix Ronday and Bart is doing a stellar job as the team manager. Making the top right in their first regional with us and only losing out on the top four to a game-seven overtime is a really promising start.
“The guys want to make a Major and I think if they can keep up this level of play, that’s certainly not unobtainable. Obviously all our players are French but we are a British organisation partnered with a British motorsport team in Williams.
“The UK has a plethora of really good organisations and players right now and Endpoint winning the first regional is just the tip of the iceberg. Misfits, Dignitas and Semper are all in the top eight with British players in them and some really young talent at that. The future is bright for the UK in Rocket League.”
UK orgs also took part in the $100,000 Rocket League WePlay Esports Invitational recently.
“The UK has a plethora of really good organisations and players right now and Endpoint winning the first regional is just the tip of the iceberg. The future is bright for the UK in Rocket League.”
Jeff Simpkins, Williams Resolve
The support from developer Psyonix has also increased. Last month, the RLCS 2021-22 Season was announced with its largest ever Rocket League esports prize pool, new format and regions, plus the return of LANs.
There’s a ton of solid UK players in the game, from Tadpole (who recently joined Wolves Esports’ Rocket League team) to Deevo, Archie to Bluey, Noly to Scrub Killa and many more.
Beyond the orgs and players, there’s a host of other talent in Rocket League – coaches like Gregan and casters like Cole and Stumpy, Shogun and more, and support at the collegiate level from the likes of the British Esports Association.
As Jeff and Adam say, the future is certainly looking bright for Rocket League esports and those flying the UK flag within it. Here’s to more success in the future.
See more Rocket League UK esports stories from this year and earlier.
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Dom is an award-winning writer and finalist of the Esports Journalist of the Year 2023 award. He graduated from Bournemouth University with a 2:1 degree in Multi-Media Journalism in 2007.
As a long-time gamer having first picked up the NES controller in the late ’80s, he has written for a range of publications including GamesTM, Nintendo Official Magazine, industry publication MCV and others. He worked as head of content for the British Esports Federation up until February 2021, when he stepped back to work full-time on Esports News UK and offer esports consultancy and freelance services. Note: Dom still produces the British Esports newsletter on a freelance basis, so our coverage of British Esports is always kept simple – usually just covering the occasional press release – because of this conflict of interest.
